Exact elasticity solution for the vibration of functionally graded anisotropic cylindrical shells

An exact elasticity solution is presented for the free and forced vibration of functionally graded cylindrical shells. The functionally graded shells have simply supported edges and arbitrary material gradation in the radial direction. The three-dimensional linear elastodynamics equations, simplified to the case of generalized plane strain deformation in the axial direction, are solved using suitable displacement functions that identically satisfy the boundary conditions. The resulting system of coupled ordinary differential equations with variable coefficients are solved analytically using the power series method. The analytical solution is applicable to shallow as well as deep shells of arbitrary thickness. The formulation assumes that the shell is made of a cylindrically orthotropic material but it is equally applicable to the special case of isotropic materials. Results are presented for two-constituent isotropic and fiber-reinforced composite materials. The homogenized elastic stiffnesses of isotropic materials are estimated using the self-consistent scheme. In the case of fiber-reinforced materials, the effective properties are obtained using either the Mori–Tanaka or asymptotic expansion homogenization (AEH) methods. The fiber-reinforced composite material studied in the present work consists of silicon-carbide fibers embedded in titanium matrix with the fiber volume fraction and fiber orientation graded in the radial direction. The natural frequencies, mode shapes, displacements and stresses are presented for different material gradations and shell geometries.